Brands
UP Yoddha partners with U.P. Kabaddi league to make a major strategic foray into Grassroots Kabaddi
Greater Noida: UP Yoddha- the Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, based franchise of Pro Kabaddi League, today announced a major strategic partnership with U.P. Kabaddi league, marking their foray into Grassroots Kabaddi within the state. UP Yoddha, in partnership with Hindustan publication intend to unearth grassroots level Kabaddi talent in the State. The league will be played from the 1st September – 13th October 2019.
U.P. Kabaddi League which is in its second season, will feature 35 men’s teams and 8 women’s team from all over the state. The men’s tournament shall be divided in four zones played across Zone A – Agra (1st – 3rd September); Zone B – Kanpur (13th – 15th September); Zone C- Gorakhpur (9th -12th September); Zone D – Varanasi (9th – 12th September) and the finals in the City of Nawabs – Lucknow (10th – 13th October). The women’s matches shall be held at Lucknow during the same time as the men’s finals.
Speaking on the association, Col. Vinod Bisht, CEO GMR League Games said, “We are delighted to partner with the U.P. Kabaddi League. Being a franchisee from Uttar Pradesh it is our duty to support talented youngsters from the region, find the right platform to develop their game and make a professional career. In the last few years, we have unearthed a few talented youngsters like Nitesh Kumar, Sumit and Surender Gill from the state and we believe there is no dearth of talent in India’s largest and most populous state. Our’s is a constant endeavor to keep unearthing more and more local talent, giving the youth a viable career option.”
All the matches will be played in the Pro Kabaddi League format and the scoring shall be akin the same. In the men’s category each zone will see two top teams qualify for Lucknow.
The team bifurcation for each zone is as follows:
Zone A – Agra – Eight District Teams
Zone B – Kanpur – Eight District Teams
Zone C – Gorakhpur – Nine District Teams
Zone D – Varanasi – Ten District Teams
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
